Management Team

Carlos Paya, M.D., Ph.D.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Carlos Paya joined Immune Design in May 2011 as our President, Chief Executive Officer and director. Beginning March 2017, he also serves on the board of Fluidigm Corporation, a public life sciences technology and tools company. Dr. Paya was previously the President of Elan Corporation, a pharmaceutical corporation, which was acquired by Perrigo Company, from November 2008 to April 2011. Before joining Elan Corporation, Dr. Paya was at Eli Lilly & Company, a pharmaceutical corporation, from September 2001 to November 2008, as Vice President, Lilly Research Laboratories. From January 1991 to August 2001, Dr. Paya was Professor of Medicine, Immunology, and Pathology, and Vice Dean of the Clinical Investigation Program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Madrid and underwent postdoctoral training at the Institute Pasteur, Paris, France. We believe that Dr. Paya’s knowledge of our company and experience in the life sciences industry gives him the qualifications and skills to serve on our Board.

Stephen R. Brady, JD, LLM

Executive Vice President, Strategy & Finance

Stephen R. Brady has been our Executive Vice President, Strategy & Finance since May 2015, and joined Immune Design in September 2013 as our Chief Business Officer. He previously served as Chief Business Officer for 3-V Biosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from February 2011 to August 2013, and prior to that, he served as 3-V Bioscience, Inc.’s Vice President, Corporate Development, Strategy and Operations, from February 2010 to February 2011. From April 2007 to March 2010, he was at Proteolix, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, most recently serving as Vice President, Corporate Development. Prior to Proteolix, Inc., Mr. Brady served as Senior Corporate Counsel at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2001 to 2007. Mr. Brady was also a Vice President with Lazard Venture Advisors, a division of Lazard Freres & Co. LLC, from 2000 to 2001, and an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP from 1996 to 2000. Mr. Brady received a B.A. in English from the University of Oregon, a J.D. from the University of the Pacific and an LL.M. from New York University School of Law.

Fred Kerwood

Vice President, Clinical Operations & Project Management

Fred Kerwood joined Immune Design in August 2018 as our Vice President, Clinical Operations & Project Management. He brings a vast experience in the leadership and management of departments and programs and a successful track record in product submissions and launches. Mr. Kerwood most recently served as Vice President, Clinical Operations at Acorda Therapeutics. Prior to that, he has held Senior Director positions at Elan Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson, including roles in medical affairs and marketing. He has also held project management and clinical operations roles at Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals and Covance. Mr. Kerwood received his MBA in science & technology from LaSalle University and a BS in psychology & biochemistry from Texas A&M University.

Jan Henrik ter Meulen, M.D., Dr. habil., DTM&H

Chief Scientific Officer

Jan Henrik ter Meulen joined Immune Design in October 2013 as our Chief Scientific Officer. He previously served as Executive Director of Vaccine Research and Head of Department of Vaccine Basic Research at Merck Research Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, from April 2008 to September 2013. Prior to Merck, from March 2003 to April 2008, Dr. ter Meulen served as Executive Director Infectious Diseases at Crucell Holland and, from September 2006 to April 2008, as Chief Scientific Officer at Etna Biotech S.r.l., a subsidiary of Crucell. Dr. ter Meulen has an M.D. from Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg im Breisgau, a medical doctorate from Julius Maximilians University Wuerzburg, a higher doctorate from Philipps University Marburg, a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from the London School, and is a board certified in Clinical Microbiology by the Chambers of Physicians, Hamburg Germany.

Sandy Mohan, Ph.D.

Vice President, Quality & Compliance

Sandy Mohan joined Immune Design in February 2018 as our Vice President, Quality & Compliance. Most recently, she served as Vice President, Quality at Acorda Therapeutics (formerly Biotie Therapies). Prior to that, she was the Vice President of Quality at BioElectron and Vice President of Quality at InterMune Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Roche), where she built a quality team and supported drug approvals in US and Europe. Previously, she was the Senior Director of QA at Alexza Pharmaceuticals and Director of Quality & Compliance at CV Therapeutics (acquired by Gilead), where she supported US drug approval and launch. She started her career at Merck Research Laboratories in New Jersey and was later Research Assistant Professor at New York University. Dr. Mohan’s areas of expertise include all phases of drug development, commercialization, and GxP Quality and Compliance. Dr. Mohan holds an MS and PhD in Microbiology from New York University.

Heidi Petersen

Vice President of Regulatory Affairs

Heidi Petersen joined Immune Design in June 2017 and serves as our Vice President of Regulatory Affairs. Prior to joining Immune Design, Ms. Petersen worked with several oncology biotech companies as a senior regulatory consultant. Prior to consulting, she served as Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality with Bavarian Nordic and as a Director of Business Development and Manager of Regulatory Affairs at Pharmacyclics. In addition, Ms. Petersen held regulatory affairs positions at Chiron and Alza. Prior to joining the industry in 1992, she managed one of the largest HIV heterosexual transmission studies in the country at UCSF. Ms. Petersen holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University and a BS in Biology from Tulane University.

Sergey Yurasov, M.D., Ph.D.

Senior Vice President, Clinical Development & Chief Medical Officer

Sergey Yurasov joined Immune Design in October 2016 as our Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, and Chief Medical Officer. From August 2014 until September 2016, Dr. Yurosov held positions of increasing responsibility at Clovis Oncology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Clinical Development, where he was responsible for overseeing all clinical activities for its rociletinib, rucaparib and lucitanib programs, including regulatory submission and launch support for rociletinib and rucaparib. From August 2010 until August 2014, Dr. Yurasov held positions of increasing responsibility at ImClone Systems, a subsidiary of Eli Lilly & Co., most recently serving as Associate Vice-President, Global Medicine Science, where he led the development of ramucirumab culminating in the FDA submission for second line non-small cell lung cancer indication. Prior to ImClone Systems, he served at Hoffman-La Roche as Clinical Director of Oncology, Pharma Research and Early Development. Prior to his industry experience, Dr. Yurasov was Assistant Professor of Clinical Investigation at the Rockefeller University and Clinical Instructor in the Department of Pediatrics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he was an attending physician. Dr. Yurasov received his M.D. from the Russian State Medical University and his Ph.D. in medical sciences from the Research Institute for Pediatric Oncology in Moscow, Russia. He thereafter completed his residency in general pediatrics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Jacobi Medical Center and his subspecialty training in pediatric hematology/oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center while serving as a research fellow at The Rockefeller University in Dr. M. Nussenzweig’s laboratory.